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BURIAL SERVICE 



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INDEPENDENT ORDER 



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WASHINGTON, D. C. , - . c 
1873. 4 f^ti 


W. Koch, Printer, 309 Eighth Street. 



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Entered according to an Act of Congress in the year 187;-', 
by Joseph ST. Mayne and George J. Beanes (for the Su- 
preme Grand Lodge I. O. G. S, and D. of S. in America) in 
the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



BTTKIAE SERVICE. 



The Presiding Officer, on taking his (her) seat, will 
call the lodge to order by the sound of the gavel. The 
officers and members will take their respective seats. 
The Worthy Conductor (or Daughter Conductress) will 
examine all present and report. 

P. 0. — Brothers (and Sisters) you will please clothe 
yourselves in regalia. 

P. 0. — We will now proceed to open this lodge, by 
singing the Opening Ode : 

1. 

Why do we mourn departed friends, 

Or shake at death's alarm 
r Tis but the voice that Jesus sends 

To call them to his arms. 



Why should we tremble to convey 
Our brother (sister) to the torn?? 

There the dear flesh of Jesus lay, 
And left a loud perfume. 

3. 

The graves of all the saints he blest, 

And soften'd ewry bed ; 
Where should the dying members rest, 

But with their dying Head. 

The Prelate reads the following, or offers some appro- 
priate prayer. 

Almighty Father, with whom do live the spirits of 
those who departed hence in the Lord ; and with Avhom. 



the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from 
the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity ; we give 
the hearty thanks for the good examples of all those 
thy servants, who having finished their course in faith, 
do now rest from their labors. And Ave beseech thee 
that we, with all those who are departed in the true faith 
of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation 
and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and 
everlasting glorv, through Jesus Christ our Lcrd. 
Amen. 

P. 0. — Brothers (and sisters.) The object of this 
meeting is to pay the last sad tribute of respect to the 
remains of our deceased brother (sister.) Knowing that 
w T e shall in course of time number up our jewels on 
earth, bid farewell to friends, and acquaintance, and 
die our Fathers' God to meet. We will now proceed 
with a portion of our funeral exercises : 

P. 0. — " I know that my Eedeemer liveth, and that he 
shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though 
after my death worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh 
shall 1 see God ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine 
eyes shall behold and not another." . Job, chapter XIX, 
verses 25, 26*and 27. 

Response. — i 'We brought nothing into this world, and 
it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, 
and the Lord hath taken away — blessed be the name of 
the Lord." 1st Tim., chapter VI, verse 7. Job, chapter 
I, verse 21. 

After the above is concluded the Presiding Officer will 

instruct the members in forming the circle 

and giving the signs at the grave. 

The procession then forms and proceeds to house of 
the deceased, in the following order ; 



1. Marshall, with scarf, and baton in hand covered 
with crape. 

2. Musicians. 

3. Outside Sentinel, with sword. 

4. Vice Chief, with supporters. 

5. Members, two abreast. 

G. Prelate, with Holy Bible. 

7. Financial secretary and treasurer. 

8. Kecording secretary. 

9. Worthy Chief, with supporters. 

10. Past Officers. 

11. Members of the Council. 

12. Inside Sentinel, with sword. 

On arriving at the house, the body with pall-beares, 
will take place immediately in the rear of the Prelate, 
and officiating clergyman, to be followed by the mourners 
and friends. 

On arriving at the grave the column is opened, and 
the order of procession is reversed, the members forming 
a circle around the grave, within which the Presiding 
Officer, Prelate, and clergyman take position at the 
head of the grave, and the mourners and friends at the 
foot. After the body is deposited the service is resumed 
as follows : 

, Prelate. — How solemn and impressive the lesson of 
the grave ! Here is the end *of all men upon earth ! 
The end of pride and shame ; the end of the oppressor 
and oppressed ; the end of display and obscurity. Here 
we have another summons to prepare for, our own ap- 
proaching dissolution. Death is advancing upon us with 
silent and unnoticed but steady tread. His arrow r , keen 
and fleet, speeds its way and frames its shaft ; there is no 
escape. Why, amidst our thousand plans for days 
and years to come, should we not remember that we are 
both mortal and immortal, and therefore prepare for 
and secure the happiness of that immortality without 



6 

delay, knowing that soon, very soon, our mortality may 
be cut short, and forever foreclose all further prepara- 
tion. 

Behold how the strength and vigor of our frame ; the 
pride and pomp of wealth ; the charms of beauty and 
loveliness wither at the frosty touch of death ! Yet 
within this withering, mouldering crust of clay our 
Creator lias planted a germ that smiles at death's arrow, 
and defies its points. Foster, then, this germ ; watch 
narrowly over its destiny, for on your care of it depends 
the bliss or woe of your immortality. As Ave bend in 
sadness over the grave of our departed brother (sister,) 
and drop the tear of sympathy with the heart-stricken 
mourners, let us leave his (her) foibles in the grave with 
him (her,) and cast the mantle of charity over these 
recollections, while we fondly cherish and emulate his 
(her) virtues. 

" To err is human, to forgive divine. " 

May we therefore, 
So live, that when our summons comes, 

To join the innumerable caravan that moves 
To the pale realms of shade, 

Where each shall take 
His or (her) chamber in the silent halls of death ; 

We go not like 
The quarry slave- at night, 

Scourged to his (her) dungeon, but sustained 
and soothed, 
By an unfaltering trust, approach our grave ; 

Like one who wraps the drapery of his (her) 
couch 
About him (her,) and lies clown to pleasant 
dreams. 

P. 0>— " Man that is born of woman is of few days, 
and full of trouble." 



7 

Response. — iC He cometh fortli like a flower, and is 
cut down ; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth 
not." 

P. 0. — ' ; What man is he that liveth and shall not see 
death ? Can he deliver his soul from the power of the 
grave?" 

Response. — " Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou 
return." 

P. 0.— < ' The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken 
away." 

Response. — (i Blessed be the name of the Lord." 
P. 0.— Shall my brother (sister) rise again ? 

Response. — " If the dead rise not, then is not Christ 
risen." 

P. 0. — " But now Christ has risen from the dead, 
and become the first fruits of them that slept." 

Response. — u Even so they that sleep in Jesus shall 
God bring with him." 

P. 0.— " But some men will say, how are the dead 
raised up, and with what body do they come ?" 

Response. — a God giveth it a body as it hath pleased 
him, and to every seed his own body/' 

P. 0. — "All flesh is not the same flesh ; but there 
is one kind of flesh of man, another flesh of beasts, 
another of fishes, and another of birds." 

Response— Amen ! 

P. 0. — " There are also celestial bodies, and bodies 
terrestrial ; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the 
glory (tf the terrestrial is another." 

Response.— Amen ! ! 

P. 0.-— Ci There is one glory of the sun, and another 
glory of the moon, and glory of the stars ; for one star 
diflereth from another star in glory." 



8 

Response.*^ Amen! ! ! 

P. 0.— " So also is the resurrection of the dead. 
It is sown in corruption ; it is raised in* incorruption; 
it is sown in dishonor ; it is raised in glory : it is sown in 
weakness ; it is raised in power ; it is sown a natural 
body ; it is raised a spiritual body. In a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in- 
corruptible, and we shall be changed." 

Response. — " For this corruptible must put on incor- 
ruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 

P. 0. — " So when this corruptible shall have put on 
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im- 
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that 
is written, Death is swallowed up in Victory. death, 
where is thy sting ?" 

Response. — " grave, where is thy victory ?" 

P. 0.—" The sting of death is sin." 
Response. — " The strength of sin is the law." 

P. 0. — " Wherefore let us comfort- one another with 
these words." 

Response. — Amen ! Even so ; Amen ! ! ! 

If no Clergyman is present, the Presiding Officer shall 

read the following before the closing of the funeral 

exercises. Should, the Clergyman be in 

attendance, it is to be omitted. 

Forasmuch as it hath pleaseth God, in his wise provi- 
dance, to take out of this world the soul of our deceased 
brother (sister.) We therefore commit his (her) body 
to the ground ; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to 
dust; looking for the general resurrection in the last 
day, and the life of the world to come, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 



9 
1. 



Few arc thy days full of woe, 

man, of woman born ! 
Thy doom is written : " Dust thou art, 

To dust thou shalt return." 



Behold the emblem of thy state 
In flowers that bloom and die, 

Or in the shadow's fleeting form 
That mocks the gazer's eye. 

3. 

Determined are the days that fly 
Successive o'er thy head ; 

The numbered hour is on the wing, 
That lays thee with the dead 



Great God! afflict not, in thy wrath, 

The short allotted span, 
That bounds the few and weary days, 

Of pilgrimage to man, 



10 

1. 

Hark! from the tombs a mournful sound ; 

Mine ears attend the cry ; 
" Ye living men, come view the ground 

Where you must shortly lie." 



' ; Princes, this clay must be your bed, 

In spite of all your towers ; 
The tall, the wise, the rev'rend head 

Must lie as low as ours." 



Great God ! is this our certain doom ? 

And are we still secure ? 
Still walking downward to the tomb, 

And yet prepare no more ? 

4. 

Grant us the power of quick'ning grace 

To raise our souls to thee. 
That- Ave may view thy glorious face 

To all eternity. 



11 

merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who is the resurrection and the life in whom whosoever 
believeth, shall live, though he die; and whosoever 
liveth and believeth in him, shal] not die eternally ; who 
also hath taught us, by his holy apostle St. Paul, not to 
be sorry, as man without hope, for those who sleep in 
him ; we humbly beseech thee, Father, to raise us 
from the death. of sin unto the life of rightousness ; that 
when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him ; and 
that at the general resurrection in the last day, we may 
be found acceptable in thy sight ; and receive that bles- 
sing, which thy well beloved Son shall then pronounce 
to all who love and fear thee, saying. Come, ye blessed 
children of my Father, receive the Kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world ; Grant this, 
we beseech thee, merciful Father, through Jesus 
Christ our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of 
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us 
Good Samaritans, and Daughters of Samaria, through- 
out the globe, now and forever. Amen. 

At the close of the funeral exercises the Presiding 
Officer and Members will give the signs, viz : 



12 

1st. 

19-22-21-14-10 x 11-7-16-2 x 2-21-3-18-25 x 5-19- 
7-3 x 12-7-5-6 x 11-6-10-21-25-16 xx. 

2nd. 

10-9-16-10-3-18 x 16-2-10-20 x 18 inches, 17-3 x 13- 
6-7-3-16 x 15-17-16-2 x 19-21-22-20 x 18-7-15-3-15- 
21-6-18 xx. 

3rd. 

22-10-16 x 16-2-10-20 x 10-21-22-22 x 16-7 x 12-7- 
5-6 x 25-17-18-10 xx. 



IBIKZIPL.iLIKr^TIOilsr- 

lst. 

7-3-14-10 x 3-10-21-6 x 16-7 x 20-12 x 11-7-25-7- 
'20 xx. 

2nd. 

11-5-16 x 3-7-15 x 2-10 x (25-2-10 x) 17-25 x 26-7- 
3-10 xx. 

3rd. 

10-8-10-3 x 25-7 x 13-21-6-10-15-10-22-22 xx. 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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